Most Popular

Most Recent

August 12, 2014 | Willamette Week-- Portland Mayor Charlie Hales and City Commissioner Steve Novick are considering scrapping the unpopular "street fee" that would charge businesses thousands of dollars a month and replacing it with a monthly business fee ofno more than $135 a month.

City officials floated the possibility of the slimmed-down fee Monday at a citizen work group that's trying to find a compromise plan to fund Portland's paving backlog.

The new version of the fee—called a "business entity-based flat fee," or BEFF—would junk the much-despised May proposal to charge businesses based on the number of trips made to them. That plan would cost some businesses as much as $2,600 a month.

The new approach would cap the possible monthly charge to businesses at $135.